A sheep in Huntly, Aberdeenshire gets a dusting of snow after heavy snowfall during the night. (Image: Michael Traill)

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A NEW £6 million aid package to help those farmers worst-hit by the recent severe weather has been announced by the Scottish Government.

Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said the financial assistance showed the Government's "willingness to stand by our farmers in their hour of need".

But while the SNP administration is providing £6 million worth of aid, Mr Lochhead told MSPs the financial impact of the extreme weather on the sector could amount to tens of millions of pounds across Scotland.

The new funding comes after the Scottish Government announced £500,000 help for farmers to deal with the cost of disposing of the carcasses of animals who died.

Mr Lochhead said: "Mother nature has battered parts of Scotland in recent months, with the worst snow in living memory coming hard on the heels of a miserably wet summer."

He told how this had been "undoubtedly a major challenge for the industry", adding: "While farmers are used to operating in volatile conditions, these latest problems are giving them sleepless nights.

"The severe weather - which hit when ewes were lambing and at a time when some stock was already weakened by previous poor weather - has led to severe losses for some farmers.

"I've spoken to many farmers and know the problems this has caused - not just in terms of devastating livestock losses, but also crops not harvested or not planted and increased feed requirements at a time of rising prices.

"The Scottish Government has already acted swiftly to provide assistance and we have been listening carefully to the industry as we assessed the scale of the problem.

"That's why we are making available a £6 million aid package to those farmers who have been hardest hit.

"It's difficult to quantify the amount needed as many farmers are still counting the cost but we know that the number of fallen stock collections for sheep was up 50% in April compared with last year and up 25% for cattle."

Mr Lochhead said a working group, including experts from the farming industry, would "further develop the detail of the aid scheme".

This group is due to have its first meeting next week, with the Rural Affairs Secretary saying it would "ensure the aid is targeted at those who need it most, providing a badly-needed lifeline to help them get back on their feet."

The financial help was announced to MSPs at Holyrood, with Mr Lochhead stating the priority for the aid fund would be those farms which had been "most affected by the extreme weather of late March" although he added many farms across the country had been hit by poor weather conditions in both 2012 and early 2013.

He told MSPs: "I hope this situation underlines the Government's willingness to stand by our farmers in their hour of need and help them cope with the aftermath of what was some of the worst weather in living memory.

"The severity of the impact of the weather is different in different parts of the country. The priority is to help those most affected by the severe weather, which will be in a few areas of Scotland.

"It is only a budget of £6 million and the costs may well be tens of millions of pounds across the whole of the country, but we're still measuring the cost of the impact of the weather, and the industry is helping us with that."